Bombings in Algeria Kill 2

Three bombs exploded in and around this capital Thursday, killing two people and injuring 28 others, Algerian security forces said. The attacks came as a European Union delegation wrapped up a peace mission to the insurgency-racked North African country.

It was not immediately clear whether the bombings were connected to each other, nor if they were linked to the peace mission.

The European delegation was the second to be allowed into Algeria this year to look for ways to end bloodshed in the nation’s Islamic insurgency, which has killed an estimated 75,000 people since 1992.

Algeria’s military government has resisted any outside attempt at stemming the violence--neither European group was allowed to visit the sites of Algeria’s worst massacres, and neither met with an outlawed Muslim opposition party.

Thursday’s bombs exploded within four hours of each other, with the first going off near a military barracks in Birkhadem, just south of central Algiers, killing one civilian and injuring four others, security forces said.

Two hours later, a bomb exploded near a cafe in Bab el Oued, near the ancient Casbah, killing one and injuring 17. Another bomb exploded in a shop in the same neighborhood, injuring seven people.